Tips and Techniques - September 2006

 

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Critical Characteristics to Demand From Your Timesheet Vendor

By Curt Finch

Timesheet software is not just for payroll anymore.  Increasingly, project accounting and client billing are becoming important to professional organizations of all sizes.  If you’ve outgrown your current paper-based or homegrown timesheet system; if you’re trying to use Microsoft Excel for timesheets; or if you have multiple installed time collection systems that produce inconsistent data, you need timesheet software.

Without using timesheet software, it is difficult to understand project costs, figure out what people are working on, and send correct and timely bills out to your customers. It also can make payroll very frustrating. 

How can you be sure you’ll get a system that works for your company and is immune to the most common problems people experience when buying a timesheet collection automation system?  Here are a few things to consider:

The Most Common Mistake in Buying Timesheet Software

Don't fall for a dceptive demo.

You have the power to demand that any vendor absolutely, completely prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that their solution will solve your company’s specific business problem.  You deserve a detailed demonstration that uses your employee list, your customer list, your project list, your company’s logo and your color scheme, and that shows you reports on your data that will prove to you that your business problem is solved.  If a vendor can't make you 100 percent certain that the solution will work for your specific business needs, then walk. Period. Canned demos are designed to deceive. Don't believe them.

 

Read the full text of Critical Characteristics to Demand from Your Timesheet Vendor

About the Author:



Curt Finch

Curt Finch is the CEO of Journyx (http://pr.journyx.com), a provider of free Web-based software located in Austin, Texas, USA that automates billing, payroll & project management by tracking time, expenses and mileage. Finch is a software industry veteran. In 1997, Curt created the world's first Internet-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offering. Curt has managed development teams creating enterprise-level software solutions since 1985, with a focus on distributed workforce management.  In 1992, Finch led the team porting Tivoli's product line to the AIX operating system, which led to the company's acquisition by IBM.  As a member of the executive team, Curt helped launch The Kernel Group (TKG), a venture-backed firm that grew to 50 employees and $7.5 million in sales during his tenure. Curt has a B.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech University in the USA.  Curt Finch can be reached at curt@journyx.com..

 

 

 

Project Risk Analysis & Prioritization

By Daniel Galorath

Risk management requires top-level management support, acknowledgment that risks are realities, and a commitment to identify and manage them. One discriminator of a successful organization or project is the use of risk management to anticipate potential negative conditions, problems, and realities. Ineffective projects are forced to react to problems; effective projects anticipate them.

Read the full text of Project Risk Analysis & Prioritization

About the Author:



Daniel Galorath

Daniel D. Galorath has over 35 years of experience in the software industry where he has solved a variety of management, costing, systems, and software problems, and performed all aspects of software development and management. Mr. Galorath is founder and president of Galorath Incorporated, maker of the SEER® suite of estimation tools.  Mr. Galorath is one of the principal developers of the SEER-SEM™ Software Estimation Model. Mr. Galorath completed his undergraduate work and MBA from California State Universities. He is a member of the International Society of Parametric Analysis (ISPA), Society of Cost Estimation and Analysis (SCEA), IEEE, the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG), and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). He was honored with the Freiman Award, recognizing his long-term contributions to the field of parametric analysis. Mr. Galorath teaches courses in software cost, schedule, and risk analysis; software project management; software engineering; systems architecture, and other related topics. He has lectured internationally and is the author of many papers about software project management. Mr. Galorath can be reached at info@galorath.com. His website is www.galorath.com

 

 


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